Thursday, March 19, 2009

Photo camp :)

I somehow convinced my husband that we needed to take the kids out of school for a couple of days to go see family in Utah. Of course I talked him into going the same weekend as Photo Camp Ut. My brother had told me about the event and the $10 registration fee for a full day of workshops and speakers. This was the first annual Photo Camp and I think it turned out awesome! I hope to see it again next year and the year after that. . . . My favorites from the day: 1- the workshop of posing people presented by BellaOra Studios. 2- the presentation given by the chief photographer at the Salt Lake Tribune. 3- The concluding Ignite presentations from eight truly inspiring photographers.

Some shots (dragging the shutter) of my brother and another of the crowd. See me on the right standing up?


i wish. . . .

Theme Thursday is "i wish"
I wish I could play the guitar!


I've always wanted to play the guitar. It's my favorite instrument to listen to!! After the boys have been in cello for a few more years I want to start introducing the guitar. Someday I want to learn - I have too many other hobbies right now. This is my nephew. He probably wanted to be left alone as he practiced but the lighting was just right so I took advantage of it.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Laughter

Thursday's theme is laughter!
I could post a photo of me at nine months pregnant in my bathing suit - now THAT would be funny and would definately get a few chuckles!
I'll save myself the . . wait. .. I'll save YOU the torture and post these instead.
Our little cub scout needed a cake for the blue and gold banquet cake auction. I wanted to make a beautiful, delicious 12 layer cake. I had seen the recipe and wanted a piece so bad. The cake on that link looks SO YUMMY!! So I spent all this time making it and stacking it all up and I ran out of frosting. It wasn't thick enough to spread around the edges anyway (It didn't turn out like it was suppose to, soaked into the yummy spongy cake, making it not so yummy and way too rich!!) and I ran out of time to make another batch of thicker frosting SOOOOO I decided it looked enough like a stack of pancakes that we could go with it. My son colored, cut out and taped on the paper eggs and bacon on the side and squeezed out just enough frosting to make it look like some pats of butter :). It ended up tasting gross - a different frosting recipe would be best in my opinion, but it looked awesome!!

Spring

I seriously lack the creative space for amazing shots. Do you ever feel like that?? The view from my windows is less than inspiring. My indoor surrounding are even less inspiring - it's my own fault I'm sure. Getting "out" to take pictures isn't impossible, I just don't do it. Much. I should. I want to. The other day it rained fast and hard for about two minutes. I grabbed my camera and tried to shoot the crazy amount of water rushing over the roof. I could just imagine the most beautiful picture of rushing rain water. Well I didn't get that shot and the rain stopped shortly after it started so instead I looked downward and shot the sidewalks. I love reflections!!



Today I walked across the street for the second time to shoot my neighbors blossoming tree. The first time I missed the sun by minutes so tonight I got there in time for good sunset backlighting. I've decided however that morning sun might be best. Maybe I'll walk over again tomorrow. I'm determined to find beauty and creativity in my nearby surroundings.
I applied these actions to all the photos in this post. I bought them years ago and I really love them - not on every photo, but on some. I've only ever purchased three sets of actions. They are the only actions I use, IF I'm using one. I'm completely satisfied with my collection and havn't felt the need to buy any others.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Today I want to blog

There are a bazillion things I SHOULD be doing today -
Ironing hubby's shirts:

Cleaning the boys room . . . (really! who would want to even go in there!?! gross, I can't believe I am posting these ):


. . . dusting blinds, preparing dinner, mopping the floor, wiping out the fridge. . . . you get the picture. But today I wanted to sew and quilt and blog. It has been SOOO long since I have done any of those and this:

has been crying out to me so I grabbed some scraps of fabrics that I think look great together and started stitching away. I love the crooked block quilting that I have seen so much of lately. I don't really know how to do it but it can't be that hard right? I cut up some strips of various widths and cut some at a slight angle. Working in a log cabin design I started peicing them together and then when they get big enough I'll square them into a 6"ish square.
Is there a rule somewhere that says you have to finish a quilt in progress before you start on a new one? I hope not. I still have one in the hand quilting phase sitting in a basket by the couch. It is my movie/tv project.






The colors aren't showing up on my blog as vibrant as they are in photoshop. . . hmm. Need to figure out what's wrong. I guess the ironing will have to wait yet some more.